Favorite Teams

This surveillance radar for the MEADS missile defense system was designed and developed at the Lockheed Martin plant in Salina, NY. Costs were shared by NATO allies the United States, Germany and Italy. The surveillance radar can search 360-degrees for incoming missiles, planes and drones and be hauled around on the back of a truck.
(Courtesy Lockheed Martin)

WASHINGTON -- A missile defense system the United States has no plans to deploy may find new life in Poland, where leaders Tuesday welcomed Vice President Joe Biden amid rising tensions over Russia's takeover of Crimea.

As Biden visited with President Bronislaw Komorowski in Warsaw, other Polish leaders met privately Tuesday with executives from MEADS International, the consortium developing the Medium Extended Air Defense System.

Poland selected MEADS International, and its main U.S. partner -- Lockheed Martin Corp. -- as one of four finalists for a contract worth up to $5 billion to modernize its air and missile defense systems.

The other finalists for the Polish contract are a French consortium that includes Thales and MBDA, the Israeli government, and Massachusetts-based Raytheon, developer of the Patriot anti-missile system.

Poland selected the four finalists in January from among 14 bidders. All four finalists were invited this week for a second round of technical dialogue meetings, according to Marty Coyne, business development manager of MEADS International.

Coyne said Tuesday that Polish officials are moving swiftly to modernize the nation's air defenses, and plan to award a contract by November or December.

"Poland is obviously in a critical geographical spot, and the Ukraine crisis has only heightened the interest in the air and missile defense," Coyne said in a telephone interview from Warsaw.

Earlier, Biden promised that the United States would immediately bolster its security presence in Poland by sending a dozen F-16 fighter jets and hundreds of American troops.

"As we proceed, Mr. President, I want to make it unmistakingly clear to you and to all our allies in the region that our commitment to mutual self-defense under Article 5 of NATO remains ironclad," Biden said in remarks at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw.

Biden also reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to place an operational ballistic missile defense site in Poland by 2018 - one intended more for long-range threats from places like Iran, rather than Russia. MEADS could counter any medium-range missile threats from Russia.

Even before the crisis, Poland had committed almost $50 billion to its military modernization effort, including about $10 billion to its air defenses.

"Although Poland is undertaking a large military modernization effort, the missile defense remains their priority," Coyne said. "The Poles are serious...Clearly the Ukraine crisis has only emphasized the need to do this."

The meetings this week with the defense contractors in Warsaw are focused almost exclusively on what role Poland will serve in producing the air defense system.

"Poland is looking for a partnership," Coyne said. "They want to partner with someone that will help the Polish industry grow, develop skills and maybe develop new markets."

He said MEADS International offered Poland co-development and co-production rights for the system, which was developed at a cost of about $4 billion by the United States, Germany and Italy.

"It's an opportunity for the Polish government to join the MEADS International team - not as a contractor or supplier - but as a teammate," Coyne said. Under terms of the offer, Poland would be invited to become an equal partner, with its designated industry owning one-third of Meads International.

Germany and Italy are expected to decide later this year whether they also want to deploy the MEADS system.

Video of MEADS missile-intercept test at White Sands Missile Range

U.S. Army leaders decided against deploying MEADS because of initial cost overruns and delays as the United States invested $2.5 billion toward its development. But now Army officials say they want to "harvest" key technology, such as the surveillance radar engineered and produced in Central New York.

The MEADS contract was the largest in the history of the Lockheed Martin plant at Electronics Park in Salina, which received a $625 million share of the work. Lockheed is Onondaga County's largest for-profit employer, with a workforce of about 1,600.

Coyne said the Polish contract would fit seamlessly into the work flow in Salina as the company finishes its ninth and final year of MEADS development work. Both engineering and production work would continue under the contract with Poland.

"They have played such a key role in the development of the search radar in Syracuse, and they will continue to play a key role in both the development of the radar and in production," Coyne said.

He added, "If it goes into production, it opens up the entire global market. There is no radar like that today. It would be an enormous boost for the workforce in Syracuse."